“The Lord is gone up with a shout,” and has taken our redeemed nature with him. He is the head of the church, and her representative at the right hand of the Father. “He hath ascended on high; he hath led captivity captive; he hath received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that God may dwell among them.” “Him hath God exalted, with his own right hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins.” This is the Father’s recognition of his “Beloved Son,” and significant acceptance of his sacrifice. “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in the earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” The evidence of our Lord’s ascension is ample. He ascended in the presence of many witnesses, who stood gazing after him till a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, two angels appeared to them, and talked with them of what they had seen. Soon afterward, on the day of Pentecost, he fulfilled, in a remarkable manner, the promise which he had made to his people:—“If I go away, I will send you another Comforter, who shall abide with you for ever.” Stephen, the first of his disciples that glorified the Master by martyrdom, testified to his murderers—“Lo, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God!” And John, “the beloved disciple,” while an exile “in Patmos, for the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ,” beheld him “in the midst of the throne, as a Lamb that had been slain!” These are the evidences that our Lord is in heaven; these are our consolations in the house of our pilgrimage. The apostle speaks of the _necessity_ of this event:—“Whom the heaven _must_ receive.” Divine necessity is a golden chain, reaching from eternity to eternity, and encircling all the events of time. It consists of many links, all hanging upon each other; and not one of them can be broken, without destroying the support of the whole. The first link is in God, “before the world was;” and the last is in heaven, when the world shall be no more. Christ is its Alpha and Omega, and Christ constitutes all its intervenient links. Christ in the bosom of the Father, receiving the promise of eternal life, before the foundation of the world, is the beginning; Christ in his sacrificial blood, atoning for our sins, and pardoning and sanctifying all them that believe, is the middle; and Christ in heaven, pleading the merit of his vicarious sufferings, making intercession for the transgressors, drawing all men unto himself, presenting the prayers of his people, and preparing their mansions, is the end.